Issue with List.Add() only saving the last added item [duplicate]

Question

The issue I'm noticing is this line of code:

tempList.Add(orderables);

In this full code:

AssociatedComboItems ai = new AssociatedComboItems();
List<Orderables> tempList = new List<Orderables>();
Orderables orderables = new Orderables();

foreach (var t in comboBox1.Items)
{
    ai.ComboBoxItem = t.ToString();

    for (int i = 0; i < fpSpread1.ActiveSheet.RowCount; i++)
    {
        orderables.Display = fpSpread1.ActiveSheet.Cells[i, 1].Text;
        orderables.ShowInDSR = (bool)fpSpread1.ActiveSheet.Cells[i, 0].Value;
        orderables.DisplayOrder = i;
        tempList.Add(orderables);
    }

    ai.AssociatedItems = tempList;
    tempList.Clear();
    if(AssociatedItems == null)
    AssociatedItems = new List<AssociatedComboItems>();
    AssociatedItems.Add(ai);
}

When I put my breakpoint on the line mentioned above (tempList.Add(orderables); ), the first time it adds the item correctly to the templist and it will have one item in it. The second time it will add the correct item to the list but if I hover over tempList and want to see its contents, although it has two items, both of them are the same - they are both now the second item that was added to the list. It has overwritten the first one.

I can't figure out what is going wrong with this and why it is happening.

Answer 1

You need to instantiate the Orderables within the for loop; otherwise, you keep reusing the same instance in all iterations (and overwriting its properties each time).

AssociatedComboItems ai = new AssociatedComboItems();
List<Orderables> tempList = new List<Orderables>();

foreach (var t in comboBox1.Items)
{
    ai.ComboBoxItem = t.ToString();

    for (int i = 0; i < fpSpread1.ActiveSheet.RowCount; i++)
    {
        Orderables orderables = new Orderables();  // ← Instantiate here
        orderables.Display = fpSpread1.ActiveSheet.Cells[i, 1].Text;
        orderables.ShowInDSR = (bool)fpSpread1.ActiveSheet.Cells[i, 0].Value;
        orderables.DisplayOrder = i;
        tempList.Add(orderables);
    }

    ai.AssociatedItems = tempList;
    tempList.Clear();
    if(AssociatedItems == null)
    AssociatedItems = new List<AssociatedComboItems>();
    AssociatedItems.Add(ai);
}

Unrelated to the question: You might find object initializer syntax to be cleaner:

Orderables orderables = new Orderables
{
    Display = fpSpread1.ActiveSheet.Cells[i, 1].Text,
    ShowInDSR = (bool)fpSpread1.ActiveSheet.Cells[i, 0].Value,
    DisplayOrder = i,
};

Answer 2

The problem is that you only have one instance of orderables and you keep changing the same instance and re-adding it to the list. Each reference in the list points to the same object. Move the orderables declaration inside the inner for loop and it will fix the problem.